Technically the interiors of the suits are the same and the student-created cover layers are the only difference, Huot said.

ILC Dover tapped the local school for the job, citing the university's programs and positive experiences with alums who currently work for the firm.

"[They] weren't just a fashion-design house," said Doug Durney, ILC Dover's global marketing director. "There was some form of industrial design and fashion design in the same school."

"And then lastly once we met with them, it was pretty obvious to us that the professors were highly motivated and skilled," he said.

ILC Dover and Phila U do not have any other joint projects in the works at this time, but the engineering company would work with the school again in the future, Durney said.

NASA has a long-standing relationship with ILC Dover and together they upgraded the suit's interior from the previous Z-1 design.

"When you design a space suit, you design it 100 percent for function," Huot said. "You are designing the suit to keep an astronaut alive in space."

"This suit will have what is known as a hard upper torso and that is pretty integral part in space suits," Huot said. "It becomes the backbone. ...It is what you can attach the life support system to."

Astronauts put on the suit by stepping through a port in the back, another upgrade from the Z-1, Huot said.

Even though the students were not involved in the interior improvements, the portion they designed serves two crucial functions. It prevents the sensitive inner materials from incurring damage, while concealing NASA's intellectual property, Huot said.

Voting continues until 11:59 p.m. on April 15 and NASA plans to announce the winner by April 30th.